Who We Are
Rooted in Purpose. Grounded in People.
The Talitha Cumi Awakening Project (TCAP) was founded on the belief that you are the driver of your own life. TCAP does not take the wheel—we sit in the passenger seat, much like a driving instructor, offering guidance, tools, perspective, and support as you navigate your own journey. Our work creates a culturally responsive, holistic, and safe space for awakening, self-awareness, healing, growth, and walking more fully in your truth and power. The destination is yours. The journey is yours. We are here to support, guide, advocate, and be your cheerleader as you navigate your journey.
Our Story
Our Story
"Talitha Cumi" — "Little girl, I say to you, arise." — Mark 5:41
The Talitha Cumi Awakening Project was born from those words and from the belief that sometimes we need someone to remind us that we can arise.
For me, those words became more than a passage. After more than 30 years of walking alongside women, families, and communities as a social worker, clinician, educator, advocate, and leader, I have witnessed what can happen when people are given a safe space to be seen, heard, challenged, supported, and reminded of the power they already possess. I have also lived my own seasons of awakening, healing, transition, and beginning again. TCAP grew from both—the work I have spent my life doing and the journey I have walked myself.
TCAP began with a particular commitment to women, especially women whose voices and experiences have too often gone unheard. But the vision has continued to grow. Today, we see community more broadly: women, families, young people, organizations, and others who are ready to awaken, grow, heal, and walk more fully in their truth and their power.
That is what arise means here. It does not mean becoming someone else. It means awakening to who you are, recognizing what you carry, and choosing how you want to move forward.
At TCAP, we arise—and we reach back, extend a hand, and help others arise with us.
Mission
The Talitha Cumi Awakening Project (TCAP) creates culturally responsive, holistic, and safe spaces where individuals, families, and communities are supported in awakening, healing, self-discovery, and growth. Through education, coaching, advocacy, and transformative programming, we equip people to recognize their strengths, walk in their truth and power, and navigate their own journeys toward meaningful and lasting change.
Vision
We envision communities where people are seen, heard, supported, and empowered to live authentically and intentionally—where awakening leads to healing, healing creates growth, and those who arise reach back to help others rise with them.
What We Stand For
Our Core Values
Cultural Responsiveness
We meet people where they are—not where we want or expect them to be. We honor the whole person, including their culture, identity, history, lived experience, and the communities that have shaped them. We listen first, remain responsive to what people tell us they need, and build with people rather than simply creating for them.
Human-Centered Practice
People are never problems to be fixed. We begin with dignity, humanity, strengths, and lived experience—creating space for people to be seen, heard, challenged, supported, and reminded of what they already carry within them.
Truth & Depth
We are willing to go beneath the surface. Our work is grounded in knowledge, lived experience, curiosity, and honest conversation because meaningful awakening requires more than easy answers.
Awakening & Growth
Growth begins with awareness. We create opportunities to pause, reflect, tell the truth about where we are, recognize what is possible, and take intentional steps toward where we want to go.
Community & Connection
We believe healing and growth are strengthened in connection. We create spaces where people can show up authentically, receive support, and remember that arising is not only an individual journey.
Innovation with Purpose
We recognize that wicked problems cannot be addressed through simple, one-size-fits-all solutions. We approach complex challenges with curiosity, creativity, collaboration, and a willingness to think differently—developing thoughtful programs, resources, and approaches that respond to the realities of people's lives and create meaningful pathways toward change.
How We Work
Our Approach
We meet people where they are, honor the wisdom they already carry, and create space to awaken, arise, and move forward with intention and power.
The woman behind the awakening
Meet the Founder
Every awakening begins somewhere. TCAP began with one woman, one vision, and a belief in the power of helping others arise. Meet the woman behind the work.
Dr. Danyell Samassa, DSW
Founder | Executive director
Dr. Danyell Samassa is a seasoned clinician, educator, leader, and advocate whose work bridges mental and emotional wellness, education, and community transformation. She founded TCAP to create spaces where people can awaken, grow, and walk more fully in their truth and power.
Built for Collaboration
The Village
TCAP is founder-led and intentionally collaborative. Bringing together trusted professionals, community partners, and subject-matter expertise as the work and the needs of the community evolve.
Ready to Start Your Journey?
Whether you're seeking support, growth, collaboration, or a place to begin again. There is space for you at TCAP.